Eric Bledsoe Comes to Milwaukee

Milwaukee Bucks send:

Greg Monroe, protected first-round pick, protected second-round pick

Phoenix Suns send:

Eric Bledsoe

Bucks fans everywhere should be rejoicing after hearing the news that Eric Bledsoe is coming to town. Bledsoe fills many holes that this Bucks team has, namely the lack of a secondary playmaker and a slasher who can draw fouls off drives. While Malcolm Brogdon has been very good this year, averaging 16.2/2.2/4.9 on .505/.488/.800 shooting splits, Bledsoe acts much more as a creator than Brogdon does as he can attack the hoop at will. With Bledsoe entering the starting lineup, the question is raised of whose place he will take in the starting rotation, with the most likely option being Brogdon. Sending Brogdon to the bench, however, removes a fair amount of spacing as you go from a 40+ percent three-point shooter to a 34 percent shooter. This is a sacrifice Jason Kidd must be willing to make as Brogdon is much better served to come off the bench than someone like Snell who needs a playmaker on the court with him to get off shots. Additionally, Matthew Dellavedova has been hot garbage so far this year, and moving Brogdon to the bench should significantly reduce the amount of court time Delly gets.

The loss of Greg Monroe hurts, as the biggest free-agent signing in recent memory he brought with him a professionality that was evidenced most after being relegated to the bench last year with little complaint. Furthermore, Monroe was the best rebounder on the Bucks, something they desperately need now as they’re currently last in the league and guys like Thon Maker and John Henson will continue to get bullied by larger centers. Luckily for Greg, he will most likely be bought out or traded by the Suns and go to a potential contender.

As for the deal itself, the Bucks seem to have gotten away with highway robbery at first glance as the main piece they are giving up is a first-round pick which Phoenix will receive only if it falls within the 11-16 range this year, 4-16 in 2019, 8-30 in 2020, and will finally be unprotected in 2021. The way the Bucks are set up, the pick is most likely to convey in 2020 as, unless they somehow lose Giannis, they are likely to be a playoff team then and thus fall within the 8-30 range. That means that they’ll only be giving up a likely 20+ selection, so a player who has a significantly small chance to be as good of a player as Eric Bledsoe over these next two years, much less a starter in the NBA. The other third of the deal, outside of Greg Monroe who was discussed earlier, is a second-round pick for this year which will be conveyed if it falls within the 48-60 range. Again, a pick that late in the draft has a very small chance of becoming a player in the NBA, much less a good one.

When you get right down to it, Milwaukee Bucks GM Jon Horst gave up a probable 2020 first round pick that will likely be in the 20s, a player that had no future on the Bucks and was probably gone after this year, and a pick that will land the Suns a player who may never even see the court. That’s quite the haul for a top five point guard in the Eastern Conference. Not a bad showing for the first trade of one of the youngest GM’s in the league.